1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to container stopper removing devices, being more particularly, though not exclusively, concerned with the gas-pressurized release of wine bottle corks and the like, the term "cork" being used herein in a generic sense to embrace stopper or other capping devices for liquid-carrying and other containers and the like.
Prior apparatus for effecting gas-pressure release of, for example, wine bottle corks and the like range from disposable one-time-use pressurized gas bombs, cartridges or cylinders that apply gas under pressure through a cork-penetrating needle into the air space in the neck of the bottle above the wine level to force the cork out of the neck, to multi-use apparatus employing valves for effectively opening and closing the pierced gas cylinder outlet region or for repetitively piercing and sealing the gas cylinder cap, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,317,390 and 4,464,956.
The use of repetitive piercing and sealing of the gas cylinder or its immediate outlet region, however, is attendant with gas-leakage problems and a significant variation in the performance efficacy during successive uses of the device, particularly as the volume of remaining gas in the cylinder or cartridge diminishes. Relatively complicated, costly and adjustment-necessary valve structures have, moreover, been required, as well.